Chapter 251 Conclude an alliance

Outside Xu County, the Huainan Army Camp.

The Chu envoy had already left, but Ying Bu was still hesitating whether to agree to the Chu army's conditions. Kuai Che advised from the side: "King, don't hesitate anymore. The conditions offered by the Chu army are already very generous. If the king refuses to agree, it is likely to anger Xiang Zhuang. Once Xiang Zhuang secretly joins forces with Liang Jun, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Ying Bu was so shocked when he heard this. Kuai Che's concern was not overly worried. I remember that when Xiang Zhuang led the Chu army south, he presented nearly 10,000 war horses to Peng Yue. There had been such a relationship between the two, and it was not guaranteed that they would really work together this time. Once the Chu army and the Liang army fought together, the Huainan army would really lose sight of one thing.

Moreover, it was already an unexpected surprise for Huainan to obtain the four counties of Yinling, Quyang, Zhongli and Dongcheng. From the beginning, Ying Bu never thought of seeking the entire Jiujiang County. He knew that this was unrealistic and would offend Xiang Zhuang and Chu State to death. Ying Bu actually just wanted to mediate the dispute between Liang and Chu as a mediator, and then seek some benefits.

But now, Xiangzhuang has become the mediator for mediating disputes, which is really a disaster.

"Okay." Yingbu finally nodded, "Prime Minister, you will send someone to reply to Xiangzhuang. The siege of Xushan can be lifted, Jin Xu and Li Zuoche can also be released. However, the Liang army must compensate the 5,000 shi of military rations burned by Jin Xu and Li Zuoche, as well as Jin Xu and Li Zuoche must also be punished accordingly. Otherwise, my 100,000 soldiers in Huainan will never agree!"

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In the Liang army camp, Liu Kouzheng and Zhao Yan discussed solutions to deal with it.

The Chu envoy had already gone down to rest. The Chu envoy finally issued the condition that the Chu army could put pressure on the Huainan army and force the Huainan army to lift the siege of Xushan, Jin Xu, Li Zuoche and his Han army could release it, but the losses caused to the Huainan army must be compensated, and the Liang army must withdraw from Jiujiang County unconditionally.

Seeing Zhao Yan pondering silently, Liu Kou asked, "Military advisor, what do you think?"

Zhao Yan asked back without answering, "General, what would you do if you follow your temper?"

Liu Kou said viciously: "If I follow my temper, then let go of the air and fight with the Chu army and the Huainan army. Don't think that we are afraid of their coalition forces. We need to know that our Liang army soldiers are not scared. If our army wins this battle, Jiujiang County will naturally belong to our Daliang. If we lose, there is nothing to say, they are all theirs."

Zhao Yan sighed and said, "But, General, do you know that there is not enough military ration in the treasury? Although the summer ration this year is a bumper harvest, after repaying Qi's borrowed grain, there is only a lot of left. Thirty thousand troops are out, and it's okay to have ten days and half a month. If it lasts for more than one month, the military ration will not be able to be provided."

Liu Kou was silent. He naturally knew the current difficulties and embarrassment of Liang State. Otherwise, the king would not have asked Prime Minister Xia to promote reform, nor would he let the 100,000 elite Liang army unload their armor and return to the fields and farm and grow grain. At that moment, Liu Kou said helplessly: "Military advisor, should you send an urgent delivery and ask the king for instructions?"

No matter what, giving up the eastern part of Jiujiang and the northern counties is a big deal, and Liu Kou dared not be good at it.

"There is no need for this." Zhao Yan said, "before leaving, the king had instructed that all affairs in Jiujiang would be handled by the General."

"Okay." Liu Kou nodded, then looked up and shouted, "Comeone is here, please invite the envoy Chu."

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Half an hour later, the Chu army camp.

Wu She's white clothes fluttered, and she entered Xiangzhuang's tent, bowed to Xiangzhuang, and said, "Great King, I am lucky to have fulfilled my order. The Liang army has already taken three thousand stones of military rations to the Huainan Army camp."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work at the doctor." Xiang Zhuang smiled and silenced his hands, "Go to the table and drink."

Wu She bowed again, then he walked to Xiangzhuang's lower right and sat down. His personal soldiers had already served wine and meat, and poured half of the clear and transparent soju into Kuai Che's wine cup.

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Another half a quarter of an hour later, the Huainan Army camp.

The personal military captain Li Ji hurried into the tent and reported to Yingbu: "King, the three thousand stones of military rations escorted by Liang's army have arrived outside the gate."

Ying Bu frowned and said, "Why is there only three thousand stones?"

Bailixian, who was sitting in the lower left head of Yingbu, just smiled and said nothing.

Kuai Che, who was in the lower right head, stepped forward and gently pulled the corner of Yingbu's clothes, lowered his voice and said, "Master, it's almost enough. What's the difference between three thousand stones and five thousand stones? The key is that Liang army has compensated our army for the losses, and the king's face is reasonable."

Ying Bu murmured and immediately ordered Li Ji: "Tell me the order, and all the troops and battalions make way for the west of Xushan and let the Han army go."

"Here!" Li Ji responded with a loud promise and turned around and left.

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Another half an hour later, the Liang army camp.

Chu Chun stepped forward and bowed to Liu Kou and reported: "General, Jin Xu and Li Zuoche are two idiots, come back, and are now outside the gate. Do you want to let them in?"

Liu Kou said coldly: "Go and bring them in."

Chu Chun immediately took the order and left. Zhao Yan said with some concern: "General, Jin Xu, and Li Zuoche should have surrendered, and his intentions are extremely vicious, but they are also ordered to act, and this matter is not blamed on them. Therefore, it is better not to expose it in person, so it is better not to expose it in person, so they will not be angry and cause a mutiny."

"Musliance? They probably won't have this opportunity." Liu Kou sneered, "Except for Jin Xi, the thousands of remaining soldiers brought by Li Zuoche, all the Sima and above generals in the remaining troops have been replaced by me. The more than 20,000 troops stationed in Quyang and Dongcheng have now been firmly controlled by this general. What mutiny are they using?"

Zhao Yan couldn't help but look at him sideways, thinking that the reason why Liu Kou was able to become the general of Liang State was not fortunate. This cruel and decisiveness alone was beyond the reach of others. If it were someone else, he might not have dared to do such a big move, and it would not have been possible. Only a famous general like Liu Kou could suppress the troops of Jin Xu and Li Zuoche.

Before a moment, Chu Chun led Jin Xu and Li Zuoche into the central army tent. Jin and Li were following four Liang army soldiers standing with swords. Seeing this scene, Jin Xu's eyes twitched, but Li Zuoche sighed in his heart, knowing that the intention of the King of Han had failed. If Li Zuoche could not even see this, it would be a waste of reading so many military books.

Liu Kou glanced at Jin Xu coldly, Li Zuoche glanced at him and shouted suddenly: "Come on, tie me up for this general!"

Four Liang army soldiers standing with their swords rushed up and pushed Jin Xu and Li Zuoche to the ground and tied them up.

"General, what do you mean?" Jin Xu looked around the Liang army soldiers standing around and said in a harsh and indifferent manner.

"What does it mean? Don't you know?" Liu Kou smiled coldly and shouted, "Don't think that you are just smart. Others are fools. Humph, if you want to use our king as a monkey, you are still young!"

"Ah?" Jin Xu suddenly felt like a deflated ball when he heard this.

Li Zuoche looked calm and said calmly: "Since the general already knows the whole story, we have nothing to explain. If we want to kill and cut, we just want to listen to the emperor. I just hope that the general can let the lieutenant generals go. They are just doing things on orders, and they actually don't know the whole story."

"You can rest assured that this is. This general has sent someone to send them back to Guanzhong." Liu Kou said this and said, "But you two have to go back to Dingtao with me and wait for the king to leave."

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Ten days later, the eight hundred miles from Nanyang County were sent to Longxi Daying in a hurry.

After reading the urgent report sent by the Nanyang County Magistrate, Liu Bang couldn't help but sigh and said, "Zifang, the three tigers you set up to compete for food have not worked. Peng Yue, Yingbu and Xiangzhuang still couldn't fight, it's a pity! Moreover, Yingbu also formed an alliance with Xiangzhuang, which was really unexpected."

After reading the urgent report, Zhang Liang sighed: "King, Guanzhong is too far from Jiujiang."

Chen Ping nodded and said, "Yes, as far away, the message will be extremely time-consuming. When we get the news, the situation there has been beyond recognition. Just say, Zhou Yin, if we had known that he had secretly surrendered to Chu, why would the king give him another secret edict? It would have been in vain to reveal our intentions, alas."

Liu Bang said: "But in this way, the situation around Chu State will greatly ease."

Hengshan Kingdom and Dongou Kingdom were destroyed one after another, and the Minyue Kingdom was not enough to threaten Jiangdong. Yingbu, the only king of Huainan who could pose a threat to Chu, has now taken the initiative to form an alliance with Xiangzhuang. In addition, Xiangzhuang, Yingbu and Peng Yue reached a compromise, and the chaos in Jiujiang was also solved. Now, Chu can accumulate energy and work hard to govern.

Zhang Liang said: "King, the situation is like this and it is not reversible by human power. Since it cannot stop the development of Chu, you might as well let it go. No matter what, the population and wealth of Bashu in Guanzhong are not comparable to that of Jiangdong. Therefore, even if both sides focus on developing at the same time, the gap between Chu and Han will only become larger and larger, and will not narrow."

"Well." Liu Bang nodded and asked Chen Ping again, "Chen Ping, have those two Korean horse vendors been looking for?"

Liu Bang was particularly concerned about the cavalry owned by the Chu army, which even had people and horses wrapped in iron armor. This was normal. Sun Tzu said: Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you be able to win a hundred battles. At most, five years or three years, the Han army will send troops to Guandong. The Chu and Han armies will definitely meet on the battlefield. How could Liu Bang not find out the details of this cavalry?

Chen Ping hurriedly said, "Report to the king, the two Korean horse traders have already found them, but according to them, they have not witnessed the heavy armored iron cavalry of the Chu army with their own eyes. They are actually just hearing about it."

"What?" Liu Bang frowned and said, "They are also hearing it?"

Zhang Liang suddenly said, "King, although Peng Yue suppressed Jin Xu and Li Zuoche and also incorporated the two men's troops, hundreds of generals and schools who were loyal to the king were all sent back to Guanzhong. These generals and schools participated in the Battle of Liyang and must have seen the heavy armored cavalry of the Chu army. Why would you please summon a few people to ask?"

"Yes, yes." Liu Bang nodded repeatedly, "Why did I forget this?"

After saying that, Liu Bang turned around and ordered Xiahou Ying, "Xiahou Ying, immediately issue an edict to Xianyang, and let the hundreds of generals and schoolmen who came back from Jiujiang come to Longxi camp immediately."
Chapter completed!